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SPEECH 



HON. E. W. CHASTAIN, 



OF GEORGIA, 



THE ACaUISITION OF CUBA, 



IN REPLY TO 



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THE SPEECH OF MR. BOYCE, OF SOUTH CAROLINA: 



DELIVERED 



IN THE HOUSE OF EEPKESENTATIVES, FEB. 17, 1855 



WASHINGTON: 

A. O. P. NICHOLSON, PRINTER. 
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SPEECH. 



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The House being iii Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union- 
Mr. CHASTAIN said : 

Mr. Chairman : Were I to consult my own feelings, I would allow 
the remainder of the session to pass without taking any further part in 
its proceedings than answering to my -name, and recording my vote on 
such questions as may come before the House, convinced, as I have 
long been, that the greatest obstacle to legislative action, and, conse- 
quently, the most common subject of well-founded complaint, on the 
part of our respective constituencies, is our inveterate proneness to 
oratorical display. 

It has ever been my habit to act promptly — nay, boldly — ^when my 
judgment has been formed, and my course decided; to halt at no stop- 
ping-places; to lose no time in useless parade, nor delay my purpose 
by ostentatious harangues, either in laudation of my wisdom or expla- 
nation of my course. Action, sir, is my principle, and I have ever 
been willing to permit that action to speak for itself. Justice, however, 
■to m3rself, to my constituents, to the tSouth, and to the country, demand 
that I should trespass, for a few moments, on the patience of the House, 
whilst I protest, in the most emphatic manner, against the propositions 
submitted to this House, a few days since, by the honorable member 
from South Carohna, [Mr. Boyce,] in reference to our present and pro- 
spective relations with Spain and the Island of Cuba. No gentleman 
in this House, or out of it, is more wilhng than I am to acknowledge 
the abilities and the patriotism of the honorable member from South 
Carolina. That he should labor under what I conceive to be so extraor- 
dinary a hallucination — extraordinary, because the gentleman repre- 
sents, in part, a gallant State, that has ever been foremost in defence 
of southern interests — is to my mind a political paradox of ominous im- 
port. It can only be accounted for by analyzing the facts and the data 
upon which the gentleman's speech is predicated. If we find that these 
facts and these data are incorrect, that the honorable gentleman has 
been misled by the authorities on which he relied, we can easily find a 
solution of what would otherwise appear strange, even inexplicable, 
in view of the section of country which the honorable gentleman so 
ably represents, and the subject which formed the theme of his elo- 
quent remarks. 

I propose, then, sir, to follow the course of argument adopted by the 
gentleman from South Carolina. I shall endeavor to show that national 
honor, as well as national necessity, imperatively demand a prompt, 
definitive, and satisfactory settlement of the long-standing grievances and 
multiplied and accumulated outrages which we have experienced at 
the hands of Spanish officials, and which we have already permitted to 
remain too long unredressed and unpunished. Sir, our national honor 



4 

and our commercial rights are represented by every flag that floats in 
the breeze from the mast-head of an American ship, no matter in what 
sea she may be found, or in what port she may choose to anchor. In- 
sult that flag, and you insult the whole American people ; you rouse- a 
feehng throughout the length and breadth of the land which nothing 
can appease short of full, honorable, satisfactory, and prompt repara- 
tion. But we will come to this point presently. 

The honorable gentlem.an charges, at the outset of his remarks, that 
a feverish impatience seems to be seizing upon our people for territorial 
extension, and to support this charge we are told that the people upon 
the northern frontier look with deep feeling to the annexation of the 
British provinces of North America. That, sir, is a question which 
these provinces must decide for themselves — one with which this coun- 
.try at this time has nothing whatever to do. When these provinces 
present themselves at the doors of Congress, asking for admission into 
our Confederacy of States, clothed with the attributes of sovereignty, 
and capable of treating on subjects of such grave importance, should I 
occupy a seat in this House, I shall act, 1 trust, as becomes an Ameri- 
can legislator, and as a member of the great democratic parly of this 
nation. I shall be ready to extend the hand of friendship to every 
man who has passed through the fiery ordeal of oppression, and may 
desire to worship at the same altar of liberty with myself. I care not 
under what sun he may have been born — I shall ask not what tongue 
he speaks — if his heart throbs for liberty, 'and he is worthy to enjoy it, 
I can greet him as a friend, and receive him as a brother. 

But, sir, it may be owing to my obliquity of judgment^ or to some ob- 
tuseness of comprehension, but I confess that I am unable to discover 
the shghtest analogy between the relative f)ositions of Canada and Cuba 
towards the United States. When, sir, I would ask the gentleman from 
South Carohna, has our flag been insulted with impunity by the author- 
ities of the North American provinces, our citizens immured in subter- 
ranean dungeons ; despoiled of their property ; shot down and pubhcly 
butchered by a brutal and ferocious soldiery, without trial, without a 
detence, without a hearing, contrary to every principle of international 
law, and in the very teeth of existing treaty stipulations. Tell me, sir, 
that these outrages have been perpetrated by British officials in North 
America ; that our commerce has been crippled and paralyzed by odi- 
ous exactions and onerous imposts, andthat the very name of American, 
the proudest that man ever bore, is with them a by-word of insult and 
contumely; show me when these things, and such as' these, can be 
charged by our government upon the British authorities in the North 
American provinces, and I am ready to vote the last dollar in the treas- 
ury to blockade their ports, take possession of their territory, and hold it 
it as an indemnification for the past, and a pledge for their good behavior 
ill the future. Gentlemen may talk of the evils of extension, and preach 
didactic homihes to this House on the divine attributes of acquiescence 
and submission under insult and injury ; but our honor as a sovereign 
and independent nation rises above ah such considerations, and demands 
that neither should be imperilled by cowardly submission to wrong, or 
groundless apprehensions at dangers that have no real existence. 

The whole argument of the honorable gentleman in reference to 



■h 

the dangers to be apprehended from terrltbHal exteti'sioii, however 
sound it may be on general principles, or however applicable under dif- 
ferent forms of government from ours, has no relevancy, in my humble 
judgment, to our present position with respect to Cuba. I trust, sir, 
that I am as free from the spirit of filibustering as the gentleman from 
South Carolina. I am willing and ready to go as far as he who goes 
tarthest in observing faithfully all our treaty stipulations — not only with 
Spain, but with all nations. If the inhabitants of Cuba are groaning 
under the weight of oppressive laws, and writhing under the lash ot 
heartless despots, they have, in our own history, an example of what 
the " unconquerable will," the fixed resolve to die as freemen rather 
than live as slaves, can accomplish, if they should strike for freedom 
and wrest the sceptre from the tyrant's ^IBBP'^ In such a contest, it is ^iy,%^^i^ 
true, they would have all the sympathies of my soul, and I doubt not^ 
that many of our more ardent and patriotic young countrymen would 
be found fighting, side by side, with the Cuban patriot, willing to share 
with him all the disasters and the perils the occasion might bring forth. 
But as a nation we would have no right to interfere; w^e could do no 
more than we did on similar occasions — be the first to acknowledge the 
independence of their country, so soon as that independence shall be 
fairly won. Should such ever be the condition of things in Cuba; 
should her patriot sons ever rise in their strength and crush the tyrant 
power that has so long enslaved them, and then formally apply to be 
received into our confederacy, the time will have arrived for the gen- 
tleman from South Carolina, should he occupy a seat on this floor, to 
expatiate on the evils of territorial extension, and calculate, with such 
mathematical precision, the, number of human beings that can com- 
fortably subsist upon an acre of ground. 

But, sir, let us suppose that Cuba has thrown off the Spanish yoke, 
established her independence, and asked to be admitted into the Ameri- 
can Union. The honorable member meets the application with an ob- 
jection on which he seemed to lay much stress — namely, that the admis- 
sion of Cuba would paralyze the vast slave interest at the South engaged 
in raising sugar. This, sir, is a fallacy, and, I regret to add, a some 
what popular one. The sugar-growing region of the South, and the 
slave interest engaged in that pursuit, would be immeasurably benefited 
b}^ such an acquisition. Such, at least, is the opinion of those who 
have examined this suhject CEirefull}'' and practically; whose opportu- 
nities for acquiring correct information have been ample, and whose 
interests, and feelings, and sympathies are all identified with the sugar- 
growing interests of Louisiana. I will quote from an article on this 
subject which appeared in De Bow's Review for July, 1854, from the 
pen of one of the most accomplished and patriotic of Louisiana's sons: 

"The establishment of a free government in Cuba could not produce any immediate pre- 
judice to the sugar-planting interest of Louisiana, for it would not disturb in any way the 
fiscal protection which the present tariif extends to it. It is the subsequent admission of that 
island as one of the States of this Union which is supposed to nurture disaster aud ruin for 
the sugar planters of Louisiana." * » * " gut I do not entertain the belief that this 
event is pregnant with ruin, or even with injury to the sugar-planting interests of this State; 
and to such as suppose that such a result would follow the admission of Cuba into the Union, 
I wduld suggest the following reflections : 

" The product of sugar to the acre in Cuba differs very slightly from that in Louisiana, 
while the difference in the amount produced per hand is even less than the difference of pro- 



*^ 



6 

duct to tlie acre, and is probably in favor of the Louisiana planter, from his improved system 
of culture, and better care and feeding of his hands. 

" The great elements of the less cost of production of sugar in Cuba than in this country 
consist in the superior cheapness of labor aud the lower value of land there. The average 
value of field-hands in Cuba is $500, while in Louisiana their value is $1,200; and the mean 
value of land is well kuovra to be far less than here. In these great items consist almost the 
entire advantage which the planter of Cuba possesses over him of Louisiana. ^ In other re- 
spects he labors under disadvantages ; for instance, the cost of his supplies, which is greater 
fi"om his greater distance from their place of production. 

" The first great result of the establishment of a free government in Cuba, or of its admis- 
Bion to this confederacy,'^woulil be the immediate cessation of the African slave trade, and 
the appreciation in value of the slaves there, consequent upon the cutting off of this source of 
cheap supply. Next in the scale of economic results attending the admission of Cuba to the 
Union would be the equalization of the value of slaves. They could not remain at an aver- 
age value of $500 there, while they bore that of $1,200 in Louisiana, and freedom of inter- 
course between the two countries existed. Such an equalization in the value of labor in this 
country and in Cuba would conjjiiyy^i;) a great degree to an equalization of the cost of pro- 
duction of sugar in each, increasr^^^in Cuba and diminishing it in Louisiana, in the exact 
proportion of its efiects upon the value of labor respectively. * ^ * * 

" The increase in the cost of production of this staple in Cuba would afford a far more per- 
manent and efficient protection to the sugar-planter of Louisiana than the present fiscal im- 
post upon sugar ; while, so long as Cuba is enabled to produce it at less cost than Louisiana, 
and the desire in the North to obtain cheap sugar exists, the danger to the sugar-planting in- 
terest in this country will not only remain, but continue to increase." 

Such, Mr. Chairman, are the well- digested views of a citizen of 
Louisiana, long a resident of Cuba, familiar with the subject in all its- 
beaiings ; and, one should suppose, as keenly alive to all that can affect 
the prosperity and interests ot his native State as the gentleman from 
South Carolina. 

But, sir, so far from paralyzing, or even injuriously affecting, the 
sugar-growing interests of Louisiana, I think I can demonstrate that» 
the admission of Cuba into our Union will prove the best, and, perhaps, 
the only measure that will confer stability upon the culture of the sugar- 
cane in that State, and promote the permanent welfare of its planting 
interests. 

We have had official information that the Spanish government, insti- 
gated, beyond all rational doubt, by British diplomacy, have, during the 
past few years, been devising every imaginable scheme to increase the 
supply of labor in the Island of Cuba at every hazard. European, Indian, 
and Asiatic laborers have, from time to time, been introduced to that 
end, and the authorities of the Island have even officially declared that 
if the planters of the Island will sustain them in the measure, they will 
introduce in one year one hundred thousand negroes, who shall be ap- 
prenticed out, as the wants of the planters may require, for a series 
of years, and at prices merely nominal. In the mean time every en- 
couragement is given to the slave trade ; and here I would take occa- 
sion to thank the honorable gentleman for his admission that, notwith- 
standing the treaty of 1817 between England and Spain, Africans in vast 
numbers have been imported into Cuba. Yes, sir, they have been im- 
por-ted into Cuba ; they are at this day imported, and they will continue 
to be imported — for it is the s'ecret and settled pohcy of Spain to 
cheapen labor in Cuba as much as possible — until that Providence 
which watches over the destinies of men, and of nations, shall interpose 
the stars and stripes of our Union to put a stop to this nefarious traffic. 
But to return. Let us suppose this policy to be successful, and the 
cost of labor to be reduced by it to $200 per hand, (and this is the 



ultimum fixed upon by the Spanish officials in Cuba,) what protection 
will thirty per cent., the present duty on sugar, under the tariff act of 
1S46, afford the Louisiana planter against the almost costless sugar of 
Cuba? The writer, whose able reflections on this subject I have cited, 
justly and truly remarks that, under such a condition of things, "five 
years of such competition would suffice to ruin every sugar-planter in 
the State of Louisiana." "They would," he continues, "follow the 
coffee-planters of Cuba in poverty to the grave." The gentlemEui from 
South Carolina may, therefore, dismiss all fears as respects the sugar- 
planting interests of Louisiana. If he has at heart, as I am sure he has, 
the true welfare and interest of that State, he will never have a better 
opportunity than now to convince the world of that fact. Let him 
lend his powerful influence and exert his superior talents in facilitating, 
in every honorable way, the acquisition of Cuba, and annexing it to 
this Union, and he will contribute in making his country the great 
sugar market of the world; Louisiana and Cuba, as neighboring and 
sister States, encouraging and stimulating each other in the arts of 
commerce and industrial progress, and both fulfilling their high destiny 
as two of the brightest stars in our galaxy of States. 

There was one portion of the speech of the gentleman from South 
Carolina, to which, I must confess, 1 listened with mingled emotions of 
surprise and regret. I cannot believe that the gentleman designed to 
reflect upon our government because it has been compelled, in self- 
defence, to adopt a retaliatory policy with respect to Spanish vessels 
entering the ports of the United States. But the language used by the 
honorable gentleman admits, in my humble opinion, of no other con- 
struction. I quote from the speech, as printed in the Globe, of this city. 
In referring to the onerous and discriminating regulations which prevail 
in Cuba against the commerce of the United States, the gentleman 
holds the following language : 

" Under the influence of our acts of 1832 and 1834,^the imports into Cuba, in Spanish ves- 
sels, from the United States, amounted, in 1849, to only $11,000, whereas the imports from 
England for the same period, in Spanish vessels, amounted to $4,345,300. That this striking 
difference is mainly attributable to our own regulations is obvious from the fact that England 
stands on no more favored footing in reference to the commercial regulations of Cubathan 
the United States, except her freedom from our own enactments." 

Here it is distinctly charged that the discriminations and restrictions 
with which our commerce has so long been fettered in Cuban ports 
are attributable to our own regulations. Surely, if this assertion can 
be borne out by facts, our government must have been strangely in- 
fatuated, if not culpably reckless, in adopting a line of policy so disas- 
trous to the commercial interests of the whole country, and particularly 
of the South. 

But let us examine this question. What, I would ask the gentleman 
from South Carolina, was the condition of our commercial relations 
with Spam and her colonies prior to 1832? Were not our vessels vir- 
tually driven from their ports by unjust and prohibitory discriminating 
duties? If the gentleman from South Carolina will take the trouble to 
examine the documents now on file in this House, he will find that such 
was the case ; and I would especially refer him to House document 
No. 163, Twenty- seventh Congress, second session. This document 



18 



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will inform him that our own regulations, so far from being aggressive, 
were forced upon our government as a measure of self defence, and 
proved to be the means of compelling Spain to abolish her prohibitory- 
policy as respects the United States. On page 19 of this document the 
gentleman will find that there is a wide difference of opinion between 
himself and the Department of State from which that document ema- 
nated, with respect both to the policy and effect of these regulations. 
If the gentleman should not be able to put his hands on this document, 
I will quote a few lines from it for his especial benefit : 

" The tonnage duties upon vessels of the United States, formerly enormous, were, in 1832, 
under the action of countervailing duties, reduced to five cents per ton — the same which 
Spanish vessels pay in ports of the United States." 

And on page 20 he will find another illustration of this policy, if not 

a justification even of measures more rigorous than those adopted by 

our government in 1832 and 1834: 

" One important restriction is imposed on vessels of the United States, to which English, 
French, and Danish vessels are not subject, viz: Masters of United States vessels are not 
permitted to make post-entrias on their manifests, should the cargo actually on board exceed, 
from any chance, the amount expressed. This is not only derogatory to Ae United States in 
a national sense, but is injurious to the interest of the merchant, any excess in thecargo over 
the manifest, from whatever cause arising, being liable to confiscation." 

If, under such circumstances as these^-^and Ihave adverted to but 
few of the restrictions placed upon our commerce by the Spanish gov- 
ernment — Congress should have deemed it to be its duty to devise 
some means for the protection of our merchants from plunder, and our 
flag from insult, the motives of tlfat body should at least be understood 
. before its action is so severely criticised. Would the gentleman sub- 
mit to such unequal terms in his own individual dealings with his fel- 
low-man, in whom he recognised no title of superiority, and no claim 
to his submission? 

But I can best illustrate the necessity which dictated the acts of 
1832 and 1834, by referring to an actual case of shipment of merchan- 
dise from New Orleans to Havana, under the restrictive policy, which, 
to this day, with scarcely any diminution of its hardships upon our 
merchants, characterizes the government of Cuba with respect to our 
commerce. In the month of November, 1841, a vessel of the United 
States, registered one hundred and forty tons, entered the port of Ha- 
vana with the following manifest of cargo, shipped at New Orleans: 
650 barrels of flour, 28,292 pounds of lard, 8,400 pounds of hams, arid 
1 sofa. 

Estimated cost of cargo in New Orleans : 

650 barrels of flour, at |6 per barrel $3,900 00 

28,292 pounds lard, at 6 cents per pound 1,697 52 

8,400 pounds hams, at 6 cents per pound 504 QO 

1 sofa 20 00 

Total 6,121 52 

Value of cargo in Havana: 

650 barrels of flour, at $ 15 per barrel 9,750 00 

28,292 pounds of lard, at 12 cents per pound 3,396 00 

8,400 pounds of hams, at $14 per 100 pounds 1,176 GO 

1 sofa 35 00 

Total ,... 14,357 00 



Import duties paid : 

650 barrels of flour, at $10 10 per barrel $6,565 00 

28,292 pounds of lard, at $4 19 per 100 pounds -. -1,185-77 

8,400 pounds of bams, at $3 14 per 100 pounds ^63 76 

1 sofa....... .;..ft„;<,i.y.*i,..^^.,.j,.i.w,.,.j.j,,.j^^,.,jj..^^.> 14 40 

Tonnage dues $1 50 per ton ..... ............ ........ J. ...\.:i.'..::....l J:.. 210 00 

Dredging-machine duty 21| cents per 'ton .i..\-L.l. .'....„.. '.'.'iJ.i'.'ii'.'!ill.-i... 30 62 

Wharf dues for ten days, at $1 55 per diem *tLiiyjii-.i'.i.^.... 16 50 

Total 8 286 0^ 

From value of cargo in Havana '. i 14,357 OQ 

Subtract duties and port charges 8; 286 05 

Net 6,070 95 

From original cost 6,121 52 

Subtract net in Havana ......<.. 6,070 95 

.' lu yiiuf r. 2 

Balance against the cargo *.'..'...-:.'...: 50 57 



In reference to the state of things which this case exhibits, the De- 
partment of State very curtly observes, " the restriction imposed on 
the commerce of the United States particularly, is a sagacious policy 
on the part of those having the control of the commercial relations of 
those islands." A sentence, sir, pregnant with meaning. 

Sir, if our government, or any government, should submit to this state 
of things without an -effort, at least, at retaliation, it would betray a 
degree of forbearance or pusillanimity equally unworthy a people capa- 
ble of appreciating their rights. 

But, sir, let us see what are these regulations to which the gentleman 
from South Carolina ascribes our failure to establish reciprocity of com- 
merce with the island of Cuba. In the United States Statutes at Large, 
vol. iv, p. 579, we find the act of 1832, to which the gentleman re- 
ferred. I will read it : 

" Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United Slates of America in 
Congress assembled, That no other or greater duty of tonnage be levied in the ports of the 
United States on vessels owned wholly by subjects of Spain, coming from a port in Spain, 
than shall, by the Secretary of the Treasury, be ascertained to have been paid on Ameri- 
can vessels in thQ^orts of Spain previous to the 20th of October, 1817. 

" Seo. 2. Spanish colonial vessels to pay the same tonnage duty as American vessels in 
Spanish colonial ports. 

"Sko. 3. Provision incase any foreign nation should abolish its discriminating duties ou 
American vessels." 

And on page 741 of the same volume, we have the act of 1834. 
This I will also read': 

"Seo. 1. Spanish vessels from Cuba or Porto Eieo to pay a tonnage duty equal to discrim- 
inating duty on American bottoms. 

" Sec. 5. Resolved, Sfc, That whenever the President of theUnited States shall be satisfied 
that the discriminating duties in favor of Spanish bottoms, levied upon the cargoes of Ameri- 
can vessels in the ports of Cuba and Porto Rico, have been abolished, or whenever, in his 
opinion, a satisfactory arrangement upon the subject of the said duties shall have been made 
between the United States and Spain, the President is hereby authorized to declare the same 
by proclamation ; and thereupon this act shall cease to have any- further force or effect." 

Sir, both these acts vindicate themselves, and. the sound policy which 
dictated them. They need no explanation or comment at my hands. 
Whether they are obnoxious to the criticism of the gentleman from 
South Carohna, or whether they could have been designed to produce 



1)0 

the effect imputed to them, I leave to this House and the country to 
decide. 

I had intended to show that the gentleman was also led, by the au- 
thorities which he consulted, into other errors ; but as I have already 
detained the committee longer th^-n it is my habit to do, I will content 
myself by selecting one of those errors as an illustration of the rest. 

The gentleman, in referring to the excess of importations from Eng- 
land into Cuba over those from the United States, says, •' that Eng- 
land stands on no more favored footing in reference to the commercial 
regulations of Cuba than the United States, except her freedom from 
our own enactments." It is my misfortune to differ from the honorable 
gentleman in his conclusions on this subject. I deny that such is the 
case at this time, or that such has ever been the case, unless, indeed, 
during a time of war between Spain and England. France and Eng' 
land, and every country that has a merchant marine, enjoy commer- 
cial privileges which are denied to the United States, and are exempt 
from restrictions which are imposed upon us. 

I have carefully examined official documents giving the amount of 
imports and exports to and from Cuba and the United States for a 
number of years past, and a rigid analysis of the several articles of 
merchandise which have constituted the totals of the trade between 
the two countries, and the duties to which our exports to Cuba are 
subject, gives as a result the average amount of duties paid by Eng- 
land and the United States, respectively, on their chief products ex- 
ported lo that island. These calculations, which I have carefully 
examined, give as a result an average duty of forty-eight and a half 
per cent, on the chief products of the United States exported to Cuba, 
against twelve per cent, charged upon the products of England. But, 
as the documents which I have consulted may not be accessible to the 
honorable gentleman, I will again trespass on the patience of the com- 
mittee by referring to the tables from which I have derived my con- 
clusion ; 

Duties in Cuba on articles supplied by the United States. 



Articles, 



Beef, per barrel, valued at 

Pork do 

Cod-fish, per 101^ pounds . 

Hams do do 

Lard do do... 

Butter do do... 

Candles, tallow 

Candles, sperm 

Flour, per barrel 

Oil, fish, per gallon 

Eice, per 101^ pounds.... 

Potatoes, per barrel 

Cheese, per 101^ pounds.. 

Saddles, each 

Tar and pitch, per barrel. 

Coaches, each 

Gigs, each 

Lumber, per 1,000 feet. .. 
Hoops, per thousand 



U. States. 



$6 00 

8 00 
2 37^ 

9 00 
7 00 

20 00 

11 00 

35 00 

6 00 

40 

2 75 

1 12 

6 00 

10 00 

1 75 

400 00 

150 00 

10 00 

25 00 



Duty. 



$3 14 

4 89 

90 

3 J4 

4 19 
4 90 

4 20 
8 96 

10 00 

m 

2 09 
70 

3 07 

7 00 
84 

260 00 
150 00 

5 60 

8 39 



11 

Duties, 8fc. — Continued. 



Articles. 



Shooks and heads for hogsheads, each. 

Ale and cider, per dozen bottles 

Chairs, cane-bottom, per dozen 

Chairs, wooden do 

Nails per 101^ pounds 

Beans do 

Lead, in sheets do 

Salt do 

Castile soap do 

Indian corn per barrel 

Indian meal do 



States. 


Duty. 


$1 00 


$0 28 


1 75 


1 19 


12 00 


10 82 


6 00 


7 00 


6 00^ 


^^ im 


1 7.5 
5 75 


^1t*^ 


50 


1 25 


14 75 


3 79 


2 20 


1 26 


3 35 


1 47 



4^ 



Making a total value of $766 34, and of duty in Cuba $517, and giv 
itig an average duty of forty-eight and one-half per cent. 4Wi* , 

We M^ill now institute a similar analysis of the articles usually sup 
plied by England, directly or indirectly, and of the duties thereon in 
Cuba: 



Articles. 



Broadcloths, superfine, one-and-ahalf yards wide, first and second 
class, per yard 

One-and-a-half yard wide, third class, per yard 

Ordinary do., per yard 

Silk cloth, per yard 

Muslin, wide or narrow, plain or figured, per yard 

Table knives and forks, with pearl, ivory, tortoise-shell, or plated 
handles, per dozen ■ 

Do., common, per dozen 




Duty. 



$0 70 
49 
26 
14 
17 

84 
37 



' Making a total value in England of $24 75, and $2 97 of duties in 
Cuba, and giving an average duty of twelve per cent, nearly. These 
articles are given at the market prices when the report from which I 
have taken them was prepared, and exhibited, in the opinion of the 
State Department, a fair statement of the average rates of duty on aU 
similar articles. 

But perhaps the gentleman from South Carolina may contend that 
the restrictions of 1842 have yielded to a more liberal policy in 1855. 
Quite the contrary, sir. Instead of any relaxation of these onerous 
and insulting discriminations in favor of England, and against the 
United States, the present imposts on our commerce are even more un- 
just and oppressive, and the existing fiscal regulations in the different 
ports of Cuba more stringent and prohibitory. 

This proposition I can demonstrate in a few words. The average 
of imports to Cuba for three years, 1848, 1849, and 1850, was: flour, 
234,264 barrels; lard, 10,168^595 pounds; olive oil, 8,451,900 gallons; 
beef, dry and wet, 502,825 pounds; pork," dry and wet, 1,434,778 
pounds; jerked beef, 30,556,950 pounds; hams, 2,047,406 pounds 
butter, 685; 349 pounds. 




IS 

f 

Let us now see whence the above articles were imported, and at 
what rate of duty : 

From United States. Duty. 

Flour, 5,642 barrels $10 81 per barrel. 

Lard, 10, I93,b70 pounds 4 30 per 101^ pounds. 

Olive oil 2 87 do. 

Beef, 359,161 pounds 175 do. 

Pork, 1,322,655 pounds 2 86 do. 

Jerkedbeef 196 do. 

ilWBR, 1 ,228,443 pounds 3 58 do. 

Butter, 619,107 pounds 4 77 do. 

From other places. Duty. 

Flour, 228,002 barrels $2 52 per barrel. 

Lard, 121, 225 pounds 4 30 per 101^ pounds. 

Olive oil, 8,451,900 pounds 57 do. 

Beef, 143,664 pounds : 175 do. 

Pork, 112,123 pounds 2 16 do. 

Jerked beef, .30,566,990 pounds 117 do. 

IBBbs, 818,963 pounds...' 3 58 do. 

Butter, 66,252 pounds 4 77 do. 

I am indebted to the same distinguished authority referred to at the 
commencement of these remarks, ior these tables ; and so unanswera- 
ble are the views which the writer takes of this whole subject, and so 
diametrically opposed are they to those of the honorable gentleman 
from South Carolina, that [ cannot forbear quoting another passage 
from the able article already adverted to : 

" Here we find that unequal fiscal impositions change the natural current of trade; and 
that flour, instead of being brought from the cheapest mart in the world, is sought on the 
other side «f the Atlantic ; that olive oil of the most inferior quality is enabled to compete 
largely with lard for domestic purposes; and that of 34,581,959 pounds of meats cimsumed, 
only 2,890,259 pounds, or a fraction over eight per cent , is imported from the United States. 
Butter and pork, being subject to an equality of fiscal exactions, are imported to the extent 
of more thau ninety per cent, from this country." ^ 

And in the face of such facts and figures as these, the honorable gen- 
tleman gravely tells this committee and the country, that we are on 
"an equal looting" with England in our commercial intercourse with 
the island of Cuba. I fear but few will think as he does on this sub- 
ject; 1 am sure m}'- constiiuents will not. If, however, the honorable 
gentleman should still continue to be skeptical on this point, I would 
commend to his careful perusal a most mteresting document, which 
emanated from the Spanish court at Madrid, in the year 1839, and dig- 
nified with the high-sounding title of a royal deci-ee. This morceau of 
diplomatic civihty towards the United States bears date 19th January, 
1839, and a very brief extract will suffice to portray the spirit of the 
whole : 

" It is particularly recommended to the governors of the American colonies (to be by them 
communicated to the subordinate authorities) to treat the subjects of the English and French 
nations with all the consideration which maybe compatible with national decorum, procuring, 
before proceeding against one of the subjects of those nations, convincing proof of their guilt, 
and the degree thereof; always avoiding measures which may call for indemnity of damages; for, 
needing in the present critical stale of affairs the powerful aid of both these nations, it is just to 
accord them every consideration. Tlie aut/writies are held strictly responsible for the fulfilment 
of this order." 

Will the gentleman from South Carolina point to any incident, any 
expression of good will, similar to this, in the entire history of our re- 



13 

lations with Spain? Think you, sir, if the gallant Crittenden, and his 
brave compatriots, could have referred the Butcher Concha to such 
a document in favor of the United States, that their blood would have 
deluged the streets of Havana, and their bodies have been mutilated 
and mangled by a brutal and ferocious soldiery? No, sir; the mis- 
creants who acted as Concha's executioners on that revolting occasion 
would never have satiated their demoniac thirst for the blood of 
American citizens — " the authorities would see to the fulfilment of the order.'''' 

There are many other points in the gentleman's speech which I 
would desire to notice, did time permit. I will leave them to others, 
who, no doubt, will do them anople ju-stice. My main object in taking 
the floor is accomplished. I desired only to afford the gentleman from 
South Carolina an opportunity of revising his facts, and of procuring 
some more reliable authorities than those from which he derived im- 
pressions so manifestly at war with the realities of the past twenty-five 
years. 

At the opening of my renriarks, I said that the acquisition of Cuba, 
by the United States, was demanded alike by our national honor and 
our national safety. I need not, at this day, recapitulate the grievances 
and the acts of official tyranny to which our citizens visiting Havarfe, 
have been so long and so repeatedly subjected. I have been informed 
that the documents setting forth these outrages, now on file in the 
appropriate department of our government, would, of themselves, 
make up a volume. No reparation has ^et been made, no apology 
offered — no indemnity for the past, and no guarantee for the future. It 
is not for me to ask what course our government proposes to adopt, in 
view of this .state of things. Should our late minister to Madrid, now 
on his return home, inform the country, as he doubtless wuil, that Spain 
obstinately refuses to accord any satisfactory reparation for the wrongs 
inflicted on our commerce, and the indignities offered to our flag by 
Spanish minions in Cuba; that the cabinet at Madrid hurls defiance at 
our government, and haughtily plants itself upon the declaration of Lord 
Clarendon, that the recent treaty between England and France looked 
beyond the Eastern continent; what, it may be asked, under such cir- 
cumstances, will be the course of the government of the United States? 
I, sir, have too much confidence in the zealous and patriotic solicitude 
of President Pierce, in everything that can affect our honor abroad or 
our interest at home, to entertain, much less express, any doubts on this 
subject. There is only one fear that gives me uneasiness; and that is, 
that- our ardent and patriotic young men of the South — animated by 
those noble and chivalrous impulses which ever lead them to succor 
the oppressed, and justified by the unredressed insults which we have 
so long borne with a degree of forbearance almost amounting to dis- 
honor — may not longer brook the tardiness of diplomatic forms, but, 
seizing upon the first favorable momept, anticipate what, sooner or 
later, must inevitably be the course — the only course — which our gov- 
ernment can adopt. We cannot, as a nation, if we desire to command 
the respect of the world, submit much longer to Cuban insolence. 

It is needless for gentlemen to say that England has no motive or de- 
sire to interfere in our diplomatic relations with the government of 
Spain. She has every motive that national selfishness and commer- 



14 

cial rivalry can inspire. She looks forward to the day when that 
island, under the policy which she has long been dictating to the Span- 
ish court, shall become thoroughly Africanized ; and well she knows 
how disastrous, how fatal to the interests and institutions of the South, 
such a condition of things would inevitably prove to be. She knows, 
also, the value, commercially, of such an acquisition to our southern 
territory. She is not ignorant of its importance to us in a military 
point of view, and hence her fears, and her jealousies, and her half-con- 
cealed hostility to the American Union, and her tmderground diplomacy 
with the cabinet of Spain. England knows what nature, and nature's 
God, has done for that western Eden. Rich in all the varied produc- 
tions which spring forth spontaneously from her soil — salubrious in cli- 
mate — exhaustless in her natural resources — she needs but the influ- 
ence of American institutions, and the progressive spirit of American 
enterprise, to raise her to a condition that would challenge the admira- 
tion of the world. Under her present rotten and despotic system of 
government — her industry paralyzed, her spirit galled and broken, her 
sons enslaved, and her soil neglected — it is almost incredible that she 
could retain even a breath of commercial vitality. * And yet her com- 
merce, restricted and fettered as it is, exhibits annual returns perfectly 
astounding. 

' In 1851 her imports amounted to $32,311,430, and her exports to 
$31,341,683. In 1852 her imports reached the sum of $29,780,242, and 
her exports $27,453,936; and in 1853 she imported merchandise to the 
amount of $27,789,800, while her exports reached as high as $31,210,- 
405. Of this latter sum the products of the island covered $30,328,320. 
The remaining $882,084 was the amount of foreign products exported 
during that year, -Figures would fail to calculate the commercial 
greatness of that island, if she could only take her rank in this great 
confederacy of States. Nature has stamped upon her soil her long neg- 
lected claim to this proud distinction, and the hour is hastening when 
that claim must be recognised. The perfidy of her rulers, the duplicity 
of their advisers, and in the patriotic and eloquent language of President 
Pierce, in his inaugural address, when referring to this subject, " the 
preservation of the rights of commerce and the peace of the world" 
demand that no more time shall be lost in useless diplomacy, or in 
fruitless efforts to vindicate our rights. 

Sir, I am opposed to any further half-way measures. The repeal of 
the neutrality laws would, in my judgment, belong to such a category. 
The effect of such a measure would be to stimulate and legalize the 
spirit of fi:libusterism, and bring, perhaps, merited rebuke upon our 
government. Our true course — indeed, the only course we can adopt 
consistently with our professions, and creditably to our government, is 
to send a sufficient naval force to the island of Cuba, blockade her ports, 
take possession of her territory in the name of justice, and hold on to it 
in the name of freedom. Providence will do the rest. I am willing to 
trust to its wise and beneficent dispensations. Then, sir, will Cuba 
become what God designed she should be — tyranny, oppression, the 
lash, the dungeon, and the horrible garrote will disappear, and peace, 
prosperity, the arts of civilized life, education, public virtue, and uni- 
versal happiness, shall smile and reign throughout that Heaven -favored 



15 

isle. Tri the language of one of her own gifted and patriotic sons, "Cuba 
will then find peace and consolation, strength and protection, justice and 
freedom, and, resting upon these solid foundations, will, in a short time, 
exhibit to the world the portentous spectacle of a people rising from 
the most profound degradation, and passing, with the rapidity of the 
lightning's flash, to the highest point of greatness.'* 



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